CHAPTER V

EXPLAINING THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
INTRODUCTION
Psychological theories expressed that criminal behavior, was the product of “unconscious” forces operating
within a person’s mind. According to this group of theories, conflicts that occur at various psychosexual stages of
development might impact an individual’s ability to operate normally as an adult. And that if aggressive impulse
is not controlled, or is repressed to an unusual degree, some aggression can “leak out” of the unconscious and a
person can engage in random acts of violence (Bartol, 2002).
 
Charles B. Goring (1870-1919), who in 1913 published a book entitled “The English Convict: A Statistical Study,”
concluded that there is no such thing as a physical criminal type. Instead, he found out using the 3,000 convicts
as respondents that defective intelligence rather than physical characteristics was the main factor why a person
commits a crime. This is the core reason of Goring in refuting Dn Cesare Lombroso’s theory of born criminal
(Siegel, 2004).
On the other hand, Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904) in his theory of imitation believed that people learn from one
another through a process of imitation (Siegel, 2004).
Lesson 1: Psychodynamic Theory and Psychosexual Stages of
Human Development
Lessons Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Discuss the theory of psychodynamic and psychosexual
stages of human development and
2. Illustrate the concept of psychodynamic theory.
CONCEPTS
 
Psychodynamic or psychoanalytic psychology was proposed by Viennese psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856-
1939). Still considered as one of the prominent theories in psychology, this theory holds that the human
personality is controlled by unconscious mental processes developed in early childhood. It argues that
human personality contains three major components, namely. Id, ego and superego.
1. Id- dictates the needs and desires (it operates under pleasure principle). 

2. Superego – counteracts the id by fostering feelings of morality (morality principle). It is divided into two
(2) parts: conscience and ego ideal. 

3. Ego — evaluates the reality of a position of these two extremes (reality principle). If these three
components are properly balanced, the individual can lead a normal life. But if one aspect of the
personality governs at the expense of the others, the individual exhibits abnormal personality traits
(Siegel et al., 2007). For example, upon entering a room you found out a wallet full of money. If you will
take the wallet and will not tell anyone that it is you who found it; your conscience, one of the parts of
superego (morality principle) is not working because it didn’t intervene your id (pleasure principle) and
did not tell your ego (reality principle) that the wallet is not yours.
Psychosexual Stages of Human Development
 
The most basic human drive present at birth is eros, the instinct to preserve and create life. Eros is expressed
sexually. Consequently, very early in their development, human experience sexuality at every stage, expressed by
seeking pleasure through various parts of the body. According to Freud (1921), during the first year of life, the oral
stage, a child attains pleasure by sucking and biting. During the second and third year of life, the focus of sexual
attention is on the elimination of bodily waste — the anal stage. The phallic stage occurs during the third year
when children focus their attention on their genitals. Males begin to have sexual feelings for their mothers (the
Oedipus complex) and girls for their fathers (the Electra complex). Latency begins at the age of six (6). During this
period, feelings of sexuality are repressed until the genital stage begins at puberty; this marks the beginning of
adult sexuality.
 
According to Freud, if the child meets conflict in any of the psychosexual stages of human development, he or she
can become fixated later on in his/her life. This means that as an adult, the fixated person will exhibit behavioral
traits that characterize those encountered during infantile sexual development. For example, an infant who does
not receive enough oral gratification during the first year of life is likely to become an adult engaged in such oral
behavior as smoking, drinking or drug abuse (Siegel, 2004). This theory explains that behavioral problems
manifested by a certain individual can be traced back to his early stage of life.
ACTIVITY 1.1: Discuss the following:
 
a. Psychodynamic theory
 
 
b. Psychosexual stages of human development
 

 
ACTIVITY 1.2: CUT AND PASTE
Cut some pictures from the newspaper that exemplifies theory of psychodynamic and explain
how it relates to the above-mentioned theory. Paste your picture on the space provided.
I have chosen this picture because
 
Lesson 2: Behavioral Theory
 
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Paraphrase the behavioral theory and
2. Give an example based on real life situation showing the concept of behavioral theory.
 
CONCEPTS
Behavioral theory is originally created by John B. Watson (1878-1958) and popularized by Burrhus Frederic
Skinner (1904-1990) or as B.F. Skinner. While psychologists agree that behavior is controlled by unconscious
mental processes determined by parental relationships developed early in childhood as what Freud believed,
others, like Watson and Skinner do not. The behavioral theory is concerned with the study of observable
behavior rather than unconscious processes. It focuses on particular stimulus and how people respond to that
stimulus. It also maintains that human actions are developed through learning experiences, and that behavior
is learned when it is rewarded and extinguished by negative reactions or punishment (Siegel, 2004).
ACTIVITY 2.1: Based on your own understanding, what is behavioral theory? Write your answers on the
space provided.
 

ACTIVITY 2.2: Based on the advertisement that you have watched on television, give at least one
example among those endorsements that would show the concept of behavioral theory. Defend your
answer. Write it on the space provided.
Lesson 3. Social Learning Theory
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Rephrase the theory of social learning and
2. evaluate the concept of social learning.
CONCEPTS
Social learning is the branch of behavioral theory most relevant to criminology. It was created by Albert S. Bandura
(1973), a Canadian psychologist who argued that people are not actually born with the ability to act violently but that
they learn to be aggressive through their life experiences. The experiences include personally observing others acting
aggressively to achieve some goal or watching people being rewarded for violent acts on television or in the movies.
 
Bandura claimed that people learn to act aggressively when, as children, they model their behavior after the violent
acts of adults. For example, a boy who sees his father repeatedly striking his mother with impunity is the one most
likely to grow up to become a battering parent and husband (Siegel, 2004).
Social Learning and Violence
 
Bandura (1973) believed that violence as something learned through a process called behavior modeling.
Aggressive acts are usually modeled after 3 principal sources:
 
1. Family members. Bandura reports that children from families where parents show aggressive behaviors
inside their homes would likely show similar behaviors when dealing with others.

2. Environmental experiences. People who reside in areas where violence is a daily occurrence are more
likely to act violently than those who dwell in low-crime areas which norm stresses or shows conventional
behavior. 

3. Mass media. Films and television shows, which are accessible to people of all ages and social status,
commonly depict violence graphically. Moreover, in mass media, violence is often portrayed as an
acceptable behavior, especially for heroes who never have to face legal consequences for their actions
(Siegel, 2004).

EXPLORE: Read the unit on Social Leaning in Larry Siegel’s book, “Criminology (2004): Theories,
Patterns and Typologies” (p. 156).
ACTIVITY 3.1: Using your own words, what is social learning theory? Write your answers
on the space provided.
 
 
 
ACTIVITY 3.2: Rank the three (3) principal sources of aggressive acts: family,
environmental experiences, and mass media from the first to the third as to which
provides the greatest impact on an individual. Defend your answer. Write it on the space
provided.
Lesson 4: Cognitive Theory
 
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Discuss the concept of cognitive theory and
2. debate on the issues regarding cognitive theory.
 
CONCEPTS
Cognitive Theory
 
Cognitive theory is a branch of psychology that studies the perception of reality and the mental process required to
understand the world we live. It focuses on mental processes- the way people perceive and mentally represents the
world around them. Adolescents who use information properly, who are better conditioned to make reasoned
judgments, and who can make quick and reasoned decisions when facing emotion-laden are the ones that can avoid
antisocial behavior choices. Cognitive perspective contains several subgroups such as the moral and intellectual
development branch, which is concerned on how people morally represent and reason about the world.
Jean William Fritz Piaget (1896-1980), is the Swiss psychologist who was the first to make a systematic study
of the acquisition of understanding in children based on his cognitive development theory. He hypothesized
that a child’s reasoning processes develop in an orderly manner, from birth onwards and it has 4 stages
(Siegel et al., 2007).
ACTIVITY 4.1: Discuss the concept of cognitive theory. Write your answer on the space provided.
 
 
 
ACTIVITY 4.2: Debate
Topic: Based on the concept of cognitive theory, resolve whether quick thinkers are the ones who
can avoid antisocial behavior choices or not.
 

The teacher will select three (3) students for the positive side and three (3) students for the negative
side. The rest of the class will serve as audience and they will rate the debating teams based on the
rubrics that will be given by their teacher.
Lesson 5: Moral Development Theory
 
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. explain the concept of moral development and
2. relate the stages of moral development to one’s own self.
 
 
CONCEPTS
Lawrence A. Kohlberg (1927-1987) expanded Piaget’s theory of Cognitive development and applied the concept of
development stages to issues in criminology. His theory of moral development (1973) was dependent on the
thinking of the former (Piaget) and the American philosopher John Dewey. He suggested that people travel through
stages of moral development and that it is possible that serious offenders have a moral orientation that differs from
those law-abiding citizens. He and his associates found out that criminals were found to be lower in their moral
judgment development than non-criminals of the same social background. Moral development theory suggests
that people who obey the law simply to avoid punishment or who have outlooks mainly characterized by self-
interest are more likely to commit crimes than those who view the law as something that benefits all of society and
who honor the rights of others. (Siegel et al., 2007). Kohlberg’s stages of development are as follows:
ACTIVITY 5.1: Explain the concept of moral development theory. Write your answer on the space provided.

ACTIVITY 5.2: You as described by your parents, guardian or older brother/sister).

This is a bring-home activity. Interview your parents, guardian, or older brother or sister to describe your
behavior from infancy to present. Relate their response with the stages of moral development by Kohlberg.
Reflect whether you experienced every stage cited or not. Write your answers on the space provided.
Lesson 6: Intergenerational Transmission Theory
 
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Paraphrase the concept of intergenerational transmission theory and
2. Dramatize its concept.
CONCEPTS
Intergenerational transmission refers to the socialization and social learning that helps to explain the ways in
which children growing up in a violent family learn violent roles and, subsequently, may play out the roles of victim
or victimizer in their own adult families as adults.
Intergenerational transmission theory states that criminal and antisocial parents tend to have delinquent and
antisocial children, as shown in the classic longitudinal surveys by Joan McCord in Boston and Lee Robins in St.
Louis, USA (1982). The most extensive research on the concentration of offending in families was carried out in the
Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. According to the study, having a convicted father, mother, brother,
or sister predicted a boy’s own convictions, and all four relatives were independently important as predictors
(Farrington et al., 1996) for conviction. For example, 63 percent of boys with convicted fathers were themselves
convicted, compared with 30 percent of the remainder (
http://Iaw.jrank.org/pages/808/Crime-Causation-Psychological-Theories-Family-influences.html).
ACTIVITY 6.1: State the concept of intergenerational transmission theory based on
your own understanding. Write your answer on the space provided.
 
 
 
ACTIVITY 6.2: Role-Play
The teacher will divide the class into four (4) groups and each group will create a
scenario portraying the concept of intergenerational transmission theory. Every group
will rate the performance of other groups based on the rubrics that will be provided by
the teacher.
 
Lesson 7: Alternative Theory
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Explain the concept of alternative theory and
2. analyze why female offenders tend to attract male offenders. 
CONCEPTS
Alternative theory beats the famous saying that says, “Opposite charges attract.”
Alternative theory focuses on assortative mating where female offenders tend to cohabit with or get married to
male offenders. In the Dunedin study in New Zealand, which is a longitudinal survey of over one thousand
children from age three, Robert F. Krueger and his colleagues (2010) found that sexual partners tended to be
similar in their self-reported antisocial behaviors. Children with criminal parents are likely to be disproportionally
antisocial. There are two main classes of explanations concerning why similar people tend to get married,
cohabit, or become sexual partners. The first is called social homogamy where convicted people tend to choose
each other as mates because of physical and social proximity; they meet each other in the same schools,
neighborhoods, clubs, pubs, and so on. The second process is called phenotypic assortment where people
examine each other’s personality and behavior and choose partners who are similar to themselves (
https://ww.encyc/opedia.com/law/lega/-and-political-magazines/crime-causation-psychological-theories).
ACTIVITY 7.1: Explain the concept of alternative theory. Write your answer on the space
provided.
 
 
 
 
 
ACTIVITY 7.2: Analysis
When can you say that there is phenotypic assortment? Why do female offenders tend to
attract male offenders? Defend your answer. Write it on the space provided.
Lesson 8: Differential Association-Reinforcement Theory
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. state the concept of differential association-reinforcement and
2. give an example based on real life situation.
CONCEPTS
Differential association-reinforcement
In Ernest W. Burgess (1886-1966) and Ronald L. Akers combined Bandura’s social learning theory and Sutherland’s
theory of differential association to produce the theory of differential-association reinforcement. This theory
suggests that (1) the presence of criminal behavior depends on whether or not it is rewarded or punished and (2) the
most meaningful rewards and punishment are those given by groups that are important in an individuals’ life i.e. the
peer group, the family, teachers in school, etc. In other words, people respond more readily to the reactions of the
most significant people in their lives. If the criminal behavior elicits more positive reinforcement or reward than
punishment, such behavior will persist (Adler et al., 2010). It means that a criminal behavior will continue if it is being
positively rewarded than being punished. In this case, the role of the parents as the first teachers is very important
because they are the ones that would primarily reinforce the positive behavior of their child. If the parents would
reward the negative behavior of the child then the undesirable behavior of that child will continue until he becomes
adult.
For example, if the child gets zero in his quiz and the mother will still give reward to that child
then the child would think that it is alright not to study and would only cheat out of laziness.
 
Another example, if a pupil whose teacher- one she considers as a very important person-
punishes her for her wrongdoing then there’s a big possibility that the pupil would take the
punishment seriously and would change for good.

 
ACTIVITY 8.1: State the concept of differential association-reinforcement using your own
words. Write it on the space provided.
 

 
ACTIVITY 8.2: Give a real life example exemplifying the concept of differential association-
reinforcement theory. Write it on the space provided.
Lesson 10: Integrated Theory
 
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Rephrase the concept of integrated theory and
2. judge the concept of integrated theory.
 
CONCEPTS
 
Integrated theory has been proposed by James Q. Wilson (1931-2012) and Richard Julius Herrnstein (1930-
1994). They explain predatory street crime by showing how human nature develops from the interplay of
psychological, biological, and social factors, The main concept of this theory is that the genes and
environment are factors for some individuals to form the kind of personality that is likely to commit crimes.
They stated that the factors that could push the individuals to commit crimes are intelligent quotient (IQ),
body build, genetic makeup, impulsiveness, ability to delay gratification, aggressiveness, and even those
with mothers who drink and smoke while pregnant. Lastly, they also argued that if reward (such as money)
is greater than the expected punishment (small fine), there is an increased likelihood that a crime will be
committed.
ACTIVITY 10.1: Rephrase the concept of integrated theory. Write it on the space provided.
 
 

ACTIVITY 10.2: Do you agree that if reward (such as money) is greater than the expected
punishment (small fine) there will be increased likelihood that a crime will be committed?
Yes or No. Explain your answer. Write it on the space provided.
Lesson 11: Maternal Deprivation and Attachment Theory
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Express the concept of maternal deprivation and attachment theory and
2. Determine why Bowlby chose to do his experiment to a monkey and what is its impact to criminality.
  
CONCEPTS
Maternal deprivation and attachment theory has been devised by British psychiatrist Edward John M. Bowlby
(1907-1990) who expressed the notion that a child needs warmth and affection from his/her mother or a mother
substitute. The idea came after Bowlby experimented on infant monkeys. The said infant monkeys were given the
choice between two wire “monkeys”: one is made of uncovered cage wire but dispensed milk while the other is
made of cage wire covered with soft fabric but did not give milk. The infant monkeys in the experiment were
attached to the warm cloth monkey which provided comfort and security even though it did not provide food.
What does the experiment have to do with criminality? Bowlby emphasized that the most important
phenomenon to social development takes place after the birth of any mammal and that is the construction of an
emotional bond between the infant and his When a child is separated from the mother or is rejected by her,
anxious attachment results. Anxious attachment affects the capacity to be affectionate and to develop intimate
relationships with others. Habitual criminals, it is claimed, typically have an inability to form bonds of affection
(Adler et al., 2010).
ACTIVITY 11.1: Express the concept of maternal deprivation and attachment theory. Write
it on the space provided.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ACTIVITY 11.2: Why do you think Bowlby chose to use monkey as the subject for his
experiment? What does the experiment have to do with criminality? Defend your answer.
Write it below.
End.